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They've automated the process of
getting newspapers, but they haven't

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computerized it yet. That is not unless
you have a personal computer, a modem,

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and access to an online database.
Then you can read papers from all over the

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country, and you don't even need exact change.
Today we begin a special two-part

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look at online services on this
edition of The Computer Chronicles.

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The Computer Chronicles is made
possible by Leading Edge, makers of IBM

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-compatible computer systems,
including Lotus Lookalike spreadsheet, word

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processing with spelling correction,
communication software, and Haze-compatible

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1200-baud modem, Leading Edge with
over 1,000 service centers nationwide.

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Additional funding is provided by McGraw-Hill,
publishers of Byte. Byte's

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detailed technical articles on new hardware,
software, and languages cover

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developments in computer technology worldwide.

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Welcome to The Computer Chronicles.
I'm Stuart Chafay, and sitting in this week

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for Gary Kildall is George Morrow.
George, I don't know how much of a gambler you

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are, but here is an example of how far
online services have come. We're on

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QuantumLink, something called the casino.
As you can see, I'm online here with

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lots of players around the country.
We can talk up and back here at the bottom of

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the screen. I can go in here and place a
bet and actually play the slot machine.

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See if I can win some money, not real money,
of course, here. Now look at the

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graphics on this thing. What does this
tell you about this approach to online

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information? Well, this game works very
well for a media that's basically warm to

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sometimes hot. Some of the online services,
you think you're back in the days of

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talking to a teletype with a computer.
What you have to do is you have to play

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your interface to the warmness of the media,
and some of the better online

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services are doing that. They're all going
to have to learn how to do it. George,

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today we're going to take a look in this
first of a two-part series on online

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services, a general interest online database
such as QuantumLink and CompuServe.

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We'll take a look at the Dow Jones News
Service, Delphi, and one of the rare

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looks at France's Minitel system.
Now George, you know you can read the entire

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San Francisco Chronicle online now,
if you like. Unlike something I always wanted

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to do. Well, if you do want to do that,
we have a report for you on that.

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Newspaper publishing is largely an art of
mind over matter. How to put ideas and

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events into physical shape as quickly
as possible. One of the obstacles to

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assembling that information has been the
printed document itself, the thousands

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of pages that flow out of
printing presses every day.

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Typically the masses of photos, drawings,
and words are carefully clipped and

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stored in bulging files where they become
historical material. Today, at some

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major newspapers like the San Francisco
Chronicle, paper files are being replaced

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with online digital storage. Working
through an online service called DataTimes,

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the Chronicle is building
an electronic library.

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Each day's news stories are added to the
database within 24 hours. The key to the

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system's speed is the software,
which takes the final story as entered into the

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newsroom's computers and automatically
reformats the writer's editing commands

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into retrievable library form.

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After some classifying and editing by the
Chronicle's library staff, stories can

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be recalled by keywords, subject,
or by other cross references. If a reporter

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needs background information, he can scan
through the titles of past stories and

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view the full text of those that are
the most relevant. DataTimes gathers

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articles from 30 metropolitan newspapers
as well as some foreign news services.

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In the early days of computing,
memory storage was precious and costly. Today,

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the newest form of information storage
is taking its place alongside one of the

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oldest and most valued.

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Joining us now in the studio is Steve Case,
Vice President of Marketing for

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QuantumLink and with us also Stephen Fickas,
a West Coast Account Executive with

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CompuServe. George? When you think about
H&R Block, usually you think about going

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in and getting your taxes filled out.
What is it? Why is it that H&R Block

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invested in CompuServe and what are they
going to bring to it? Well, there's

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actually three different areas that H&R
Block will benefit from having CompuServe

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under its portfolio, let's say.
And those are in the online access

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to information. That's one area. That's
growing really quickly. The other area is

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network services, nationwide network
services linking people's personal computers

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into these host computers that major
corporations have. And finally, the actual

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building of a company's information
service that people remotely can get into.

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All those three areas are growing very
quickly and H&R Block should probably

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benefit from that, I think. Stephen,
I love these online services and a lot of

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people are great fans of them, but as you know,
you get a lot of complaints from

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users. You have your feedback thing.
I'd be interested in knowing one of the

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biggest complaints. What would people
like to see done better on these online

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services? Well, it tends to be things
jumping around to other services easily.

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The movement going from one access to another,
it seems to be the key complaint

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that we get, if any. Making it easy to
use is one thing, but really people like

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to jump instantly to the other services
they use. That means the time lag, it's

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the one moment, please, dot, dot, dot.
Exactly. Let me ask you one of my

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complaints. The problem of different languages,
different commands in different

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parts of the service, why can't that be
cleaned up so you can learn one set of

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commands and go anywhere? Well, you know,
that tends to be a function of how many

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different bits of information we have
sitting out there on our service. And you

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know, we have to try to structure it so
it standardizes some approaches. But, you

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know, some of the things you do
are like database management

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and some of it is like spreadsheets.

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Why don't you guys get together with
the big hitters in those to make your

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interfaces more familiar? If you're
doing database management, why not think

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about a connection with Ashton Tate?

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If you're doing a spreadsheet stuff or
financial stuff, why not look for the

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Lotus interface? Now, this thing where
Lotus is teaming up with one of these

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services is certainly a good example of that.

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It's something that... Well, you can bet
we're exploring all those areas. Yeah,

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you know, there are some areas that we
could improve on and it's definitely...

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Well, you're talking to a couple of us
that use it a lot. We feel these things.

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Right. Steve, what about QuantumLink?
What kind of feedback to get from

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QuantumLink users? You have a kind of
more graphic, friendly, home approach to

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your online service. Right. We just launched
QuantumLink a year ago in November.

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And when we entered the market,
we saw three problems for

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consumer users of online services.

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The first is they're too expensive.
The second was they're just too difficult to

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use. And the third is they just weren't fun.
And so what we've tried to do is

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develop a service specifically for Commodore
users that's just very easy to use.

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The commands, as you mentioned,
work the same across the entire system. Very

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inexpensive. And there's just a lot of
things that are useful to a Commodore

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user, but they're also fun. We're not
afraid to have fun. Yeah, CompuService was

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very well known. I guess the largest
online service. A lot of our viewers are

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familiar with it. I'd like you to show us
QuantumLink though, which is specially

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designed for Commodore users. Right,
Steve? Sure. And show us what the kinds of

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things you can get on QuantumLink.
What we're looking at right now is the

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QuantumLink main menu. As you see,
there's eight different departments on the

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service. To move around, all you do is
use this cursor key and flash around to

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the different departments. Down here are
most of the information and transaction

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services. Commodore Information Network
is where you can get help from Commodore.

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And Commodore Software Showcase is where
there's over 4,000 free public domain

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programs. Show us people connection,
for example. Okay, just pop up to that

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particular area. Press F1. That's the
select key to pull up that menu. We're

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loading a screen from the disk so the
graphics don't have to be transmitted over

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the timeline. The graphics are on the
software here. They're not coming online

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obviously. Right, so it gives you that
friendly feel without you having to wait

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for the transmission time. People connection
is what we call a social center of

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the system. That's where people meet in
rooms like a lobby, which you see here.

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And they can chat with each other,
conduct conferences. We have special guests,

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rock stars, and computer programmers.
Just like your CB simulator, I guess, the

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same thing with the console. Precisely.
And going back to the issue of user

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interface, we've tried to build in just
one key to pull up the commands you would

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like to anytime you want to get to anywhere.
And that works the same no matter

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whether... Across the entire system.
So we've tried to take the concepts of

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interaction and just make it much simpler
for the average user. So you're online

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now in people... What do you call it? People...
People connection. And we're in

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the lobby and you can see there's 23 people
now with us in the lobby. We can type

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a message like, hi, it comes down at the
bottom and simply press return. It will

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be broadcast to everybody in that room.
There are always dozens of different

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rooms. And you can create your own.
We can create a room called Chronicles if we

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like. So it really allows you to personalize.
But two people, you have chosen to

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be very specific to a piece of hardware
where CompuServe does have a tougher...

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You guys have got a tougher job because
you're trying to get a lot of different

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computers. Let me ask you both a question
about this. But I've gone on the people

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link type thing and the CB simulator.
Does anybody ever say anything meaningful

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or useful in these things?
You hear an awful lot of straight chit-chat.

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Well, there's a couple of different classes.
We have scheduled conferences each

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night. In fact, we publish a program
guide much like a TV guide. In any

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particular night, there's seven or eight
events with some real people and you can

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ask questions. There is a lot of just
very social banter. It really is an area

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for people to just meet friends and talk
about whatever their interests are. Some

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of which are real and some of which are...
We've heard about people meeting and

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falling in love and getting married.
Absolutely. I've heard stories that Quantum

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Link is going to go beyond Commodore sometime.
Is that true? We're looking at

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that. Right now we are focusing very
heavily on the Commodore market but we very

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much think this approach would work in
other segments of the home as well.

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Stephen, on the CompuServe side, are you
guys playing around with ideas like this

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to lend a little more as George was talking
about sort of a hot medium approach

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to the user interface of CompuServe? Well,
yes, we are playing a lot around with

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graphics approaches and things like that.
But again, you brought up a point.

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We're dealing with all
different types of computers.

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So we're somewhat limited on what we can
do out there locally. Yes, but what you

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could do is you could ask what kind of
software the fellow is using, what is his

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com software environment, and what is his
hardware environment. And knowing that,

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your job's got to be a lot easier in an
environment like that. We've definitely

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got some products that are geared around
that right now that we're coming out

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with a new product that will actually be
oriented for, for instance, the IBM PC

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and that will work very effectively on
accessing the different services within

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that environment. Stephen, as you know,
one of the most interesting things on

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CompuServe or any of these services are
the SIG, the special interest group, or

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the special form, whatever you call it.

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And of course, the success of one of
those SIGs depends a lot on the CIS op or

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the form administrators,
we tend to call them now. Wendy Woods has a

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report on the life of a CIS op.

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As you can see,
we're nowhere near what you might call a

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bustling technological center.

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Yet here in this unincorporated area of
Sonoma County in California, some 25,000

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people can receive answers to their
technical questions about IBM's and

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compatibles. This is the home and office
of Don Watkins, formerly an MIS manager

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with the banking industry, now system
operator for the five IBM special interest

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or SIG areas of CompuServe.
From his home, Don maintains and supervises the

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conference areas, data libraries,
and message bases of CompuServe's Ohio-based

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main frames. He's naturally a strong
advocate of this new kind of networking.

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Well, they can get free or low-cost programs,
user-supported programs, and they

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also have access to a huge intellectual
base of talent and experience of people

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who have tried other products and perhaps
would have a comment on those products.

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Don has been managing the IBM forums for
five years now. He's watched the members

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change from hackers and hobbyists to
mainstream computer users who are just

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interested in getting a job done.
The SIGs, he says, have taken on a much broader

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appeal and in our information-driven society,
such resources, he says, can only

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get more popular. Again, I can talk to
someone in New York City or Miami, Florida

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or Dallas, Texas about a product that
they may know more about than I do and

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finding out that information and being
able to get a two-way dialogue going about

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it is very valuable.
For the Computer Chronicles, I'm Wendy Woods.

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With us now in the studio is Nancy Tully,
Senior Editor for Information Services

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at Delphi, and next to Nancy is Clay Kokalas,
Southwestern Sales Rep

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for the Dow Jones Service. George?

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You know, everyone knows that
Dow's been a leader in financial

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services for a long, long time.

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Has Dow ever given any thought to bringing
standards to some of this com software

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and some of this online service? Well,
that's a very, very challenging question

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in the fact that it is not easy in this
business to get together with other

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corporations. But you people are big enough
and you've got enough prestige where

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you could press forward and get that done?
Well, the problem we would have with

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that is that there are so many different
types of computers out there that we

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would really be getting ourselves into
a nightmare and trying to know how to

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support each actual type of equipment.
I mean, you'd have to have something

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separate for the Apple world, for the IBM
world, and then you'd have to make sure

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that these products work on all these
various types of machines because we really

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value our integrity. And if we're going
to put a product out, we're going to make

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darn sure that it works on all the
available equipment. Clay, let me ask you

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about Dow Jones and also Nancy about Delphi.
We were just looking before at

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CompuServe Quantum Linkset of General
Interest Services. Dow Jones is a little

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more specialized. What kind of people
subscribe to Dow Jones? Well, you know, we

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have a large number of subscribers,
but we're not kidding anybody in that our

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best market is our corporate customers
and that's who we are trying to develop.

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Financial information. Exactly.
For the larger Fortune

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500, Fortune 1000 type companies.

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Nancy, excuse me, George, what's the Delphi
niche? Who would sign up with Delphi?

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Delphi's largest growth over the last 18
months has been with the home user, with

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the person who has a new computer and
wants to find out a lot about it. Our

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latest growth effort has been with the
small business person. What have you

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people done toward making the interface
with the follow the tries to get it to

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online better?
Have you addressed yourself to an operating

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system, hardware or to comp packages?

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No, we do cooperate with a lot of the
software manufacturers in getting Delphi in

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the box with those manufacturers,
but we don't have any software package. Delphi

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is very easy to use and has been judged
so by a lot of product reviewers. Clay,

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for people who are not familiar with the
Dow Jones News Service, run us through a

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little bit of the service. Okay, for example,
the database we're going to be in

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right now is the Dow Jones database. You're

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already online. Right. I'm already online.

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In this database, you can get the last
90 days worth of news and any publicly

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held company by their stock symbol or any
industry by their industry symbol. And

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you'll notice that the information is
as recent as 90 seconds throughout the

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business day and it goes back 90 days.
And for example, these are the last 90

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days of headlines on IBM and it tells me
that there are nine pages of headlines

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and there's a two letter code next to
each headline and to retrieve a story

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behind any headline, you just type in the
two letter code. You can go pull up the

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full text. Exactly. For example,
we're going to pull up the full text of this

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story. Could I ask you to keep track
for me and put in a way in a file or

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something on two or three companies
that I want to follow? Absolutely.

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We've got a track service that every time
you access it, it allows you to create

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a profile of 25 stocks and you can have
five profiles. And every time you access

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it, it'll either go and get you the latest
stock price and the most recent two

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days worth of news or either one.
So it'll all be collecting those stories even

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though you're not online. Exactly.
And every time you go online, it'll just give

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it to you. Now the interface that you
have is uniform across the different

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services that access your service.
That's correct. That's correct. Now, for

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example, here we're just going to get the
headlines on the computer industry. And

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as you can see, there are 20 pages of
headlines on the computer industry. And

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what did you do? What symbol did you use
to say computer? It's just .i slash EDP.

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I being industry, EDP being the electronic
data. Which is the Dow Jones. Exactly.

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We have categorized every major industry,
every major area under the stock

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market, financial news, etc. to make it
easy for the user to go directly and find

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the most recent information. But you need
a manual somewhere that tells you what

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those three letter codes are.
Well, either a manual, we have it online in a

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separate database or the best way, of course,
would be a separate database. Okay,

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it would just be the symbols database.
I see. You would go and look up a stock

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symbol or an industry symbol. And that
tells you what to use. Can we give that to

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Nancy now? I'd like her to get Delphi
online here so we can show Delphi in just a

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second. If you can get off of that, Clay.
And while we're doing that, Nancy, can

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you talk and type at the same time?
How is Delphi different? It is one of the

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smaller kind of alternative services.
And how is it different from the other

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mainstream ones? It's a relatively new service.
And it's different in that Delphi

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was originated to be an online service.
It wasn't born from excess

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computer capacity or anything like that.

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It's very easy to use. I'm going to pull
up an introduction to Delphi here in its

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main menu, which shows the different
categories of information that we have. We

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also have many communications capabilities
like electronic mail, real time

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conferencing. So you and I could have
basically a telephone conversation across

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the country online. These are the different.
So Delphi is fairly new, I guess,

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but none of you people ever tell how
many subscribers you've got, right? It's

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proprietary information. I see.
You don't want to say how popular or how

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unpopular you are. I can tell you how
fast Delphi has been growing. It's been

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growing at 12 to 15 percent a year.
Show us Delphi. Maybe we'll figure out for

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ourselves. Okay. You can see that the
information services range from business

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news to travel, electronic mail,
things like that. I'm going to look at the

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groups and clubs menu because that has
been the most popular thing over Delphi

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for the last year and a half. Is that a
senior version of SIG special interest?

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Yes. This is probably a fairly user
friendly piece of software. I have to type

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only a couple letters to make it unique
from the other choices. And this shows us

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our various groups and clubs. We have
groups for Atari all the way down to Wang,

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Macintosh, Apple II. We can look quickly
at the Macintosh SIG and you'll see some

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announcements and tells you who is in
charge here. And it's telling me that I

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have two new forum messages. Somebody
has posted an answer to a question that

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I've prompted. What was that little buzz for?
It was telling me that I have two

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new messages and I have to pay attention.
Mail alert.

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So we can see what I can go directly to
the forum and it'll show me. What was

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that report? Well, let's say it says press
return to read my waiting messages. So

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that's what I'll do. I posted a question
that had to do with Excel software and

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00:19:36,001 --> 00:19:39,001
to give somebody's life
you some answers for that.

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And this is from the username Mad Max and
he's posted that directly to me. Forum

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00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,001
is a public message system. Anybody can
read this when they go into the next.

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Nancy, I've heard Delphi is less expensive
than some of the others. Is it true?

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00:19:52,001 --> 00:19:56,001
Yes. And by what factor and how? Okay,
a lifetime membership to Delphi is only

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00:19:56,001 --> 00:20:02,000
$49.95. You have a membership fee.
That includes a handbook. And the $11 a minute

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00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,000
at night to $0.29 a minute during the
day anywhere in the U.S. No monthly

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00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:11,000
minimum, no extra charge for $1,200.
Thank you, Dow Jones and Delphi. Now in just

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00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,001
a minute, we're going to take a look at
perhaps one of the most successful online

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00:20:13,001 --> 00:20:16,000
systems in the world, France's Minitel.

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So stay with us.

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Joining us now in the studio is Jack O'Grady,
the U.S. representative for Intel

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00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,001
Metique.
Jack, you've got the Minitel and we can see why

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it's called Minitel over there.

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And first of all, let's open it up and
see what that little terminal looks like.

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It's an awfully cute little piece of
hardware there. And we've started, we're

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already online with Paris with the system
in France. And I've asked you to show

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00:20:48,001 --> 00:20:52,001
us how you actually do
automobile shopping through the

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00:20:52,001 --> 00:20:54,001
classifieds and explain what you've got there.

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00:20:55,001 --> 00:21:00,000
In this one, I'm comparing two new cars,
Mercedes, which I've already selected.

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00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,001
Now I'm going to compare that with a Jaguar.
Oh, good. And also the model number.

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00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:09,000
Okay, so we'll pick a Jag sovereign 3.6.
Right, two. Now you'll get a comparison,

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which will help you buy one.
Okay, and oh, look at that. And an American, a

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00:21:15,001 --> 00:21:19,001
graphic display. Is your graphic display
and a number. Comparing a lot of the

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different features of those two cars.
Now the French government give these away.

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00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,001
A lot of us over here in the computer
industry think that's just a lot of

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00:21:26,001 --> 00:21:31,000
socialist hap. It's probably more than that,
Jack. Well, they're not given away.

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00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:35,001
They're loaned in the same manner in
which AT&T created a telephone market by

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00:21:35,001 --> 00:21:37,001
giving handsets to people who became clients.
So you lease the terminal,

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00:21:37,001 --> 00:21:39,001
you would lease a phone here? Is that the idea?

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00:21:39,001 --> 00:21:43,001
If you want more than one, you have to
lease them. And the telephone company is

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00:21:43,001 --> 00:21:49,000
getting over $2 million a year at least.
Why should they give you or let you use

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00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:54,000
a terminal free? It cuts down on the paper
directories, which you have to agree

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to forego. And it's eventually going
to cut down in the number of manual

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00:21:58,001 --> 00:22:02,001
operators that you have servicing information.
So a fellow gets this, he doesn't

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00:22:02,001 --> 00:22:06,000
get any more, he does all his directory
lookup using this then. Yes, every

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00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:10,000
telephone number of France is on the
electronic database. How long do they feel

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00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:14,000
it takes before this pays off over directories?
They feel that it's already

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beginning to pay off. They projected that
the investment in terminals would take

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00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:22,000
five years to pay off. They think it's
paid off in four and a half. Can you get

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00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:28,001
us into something else on the system there,
Jack? One of the popular services

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00:22:28,001 --> 00:22:32,001
over there, the newspaper services like
Le Monde, which is the largest newspaper

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00:22:32,001 --> 00:22:37,000
in France. This is an online database
sent to Le Monde, one of the biggest

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newspapers in France. And they update
this every two hours. You know you're

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getting your news fresh.
So you could read the full paper online.

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00:22:44,001 --> 00:22:48,001
Are people in fact doing that? Oh, absolutely.
And in addition to that, all of

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00:22:48,001 --> 00:22:53,001
the services, newspaper services,
all of your classified ads, horoscopes, games.

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You get the full paper, not just the news
stories. If I'm interested in financial

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00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:01,001
stuff, can I ask you to track, can I do
full text searches on things like? Yes,

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00:23:01,001 --> 00:23:05,000
it'll give you, it has a bourse. So this
is an awful lot like a lot of the online

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00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,000
services here that these
independent companies offer then.

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00:23:08,001 --> 00:23:10,001
Very much so. All of them exist.
And now this is

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offered through the phone
company there in France.

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00:23:12,001 --> 00:23:16,000
Yes. I see. Well, this terminal makes a
lot of sense, Stuart. It sure does. And

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00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,001
as you were pointing out earlier, George,
this really standardizes the system.

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Everybody going on the system has to adhere
to the Minitel standards. It makes it

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easy to use. Absolutely user friendly.

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Everybody's got the same terminal.
Thank you very much. We're going to be back

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next week with part two of our look at, not U.
S., but in general, online

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00:23:31,001 --> 00:23:33,001
databases and online services. Stay tuned.

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We'll be right back with
this week's computer news.

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In the random access file this week,
Atari reportedly will be coming out with a

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00:23:50,001 --> 00:23:54,001
low-cost laser printer during the first
quarter of this year. According to some

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of the stories, the laser printer will
resemble the Apple LaserWriter, but will

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be different in that it will not have
its own onboard processor or memory, but

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00:24:02,001 --> 00:24:05,000
instead will use the computer's
processor for its brain.

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00:24:05,001 --> 00:24:11,000
The rumors are that the Atari LaserPrinter
will sell for around $1,500. Atari

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00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,001
also reportedly will bundle the new
laser printer with a complete desktop

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00:24:14,001 --> 00:24:18,001
publishing hardware package,
which will include a hard disk version of the

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1040ST. The whole desktop publishing
system will reportedly sell for around $3

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,000. At the Consumer Electronix show
in Las Vegas this past weekend, Antic

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Software showed off its new stereo tech
glasses, which can turn an Atari ST

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monitor into a three-dimensional display.
The glasses use liquid crystal

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shutters, which are triggered as the Atari
screen is refreshed. Antic says the 3D

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effect is twice as good as in a movie.
There's already one software package for

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it called CAD 3D, and a 3D game is sure
to follow. Mac users of the world united

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this past weekend at the annual Macintosh
Expo in San Francisco. The recent

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inroads of the Mac into the business
market were evidenced by a 40% increase in

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00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:08,000
exhibitors at this year's Mac Expo.
US Robotics has announced a special deal on

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00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:12,001
its new 9600 baud modem for bulletin
board operators. BBS SysOps can

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00:25:12,001 --> 00:25:14,000
get the new modems at half price.

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00:25:14,001 --> 00:25:19,000
That means around $500 if you agree to
post a notice on your board saying you're

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00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:24,000
using the US Robotics modem. A similar
offer two years ago helped push sales of

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00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:28,001
the company's 2400 baud modem, which was
the state of the art at that time. Time

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now for a look at software, and we go
to our reviewer Paul Schindler. No home

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00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:38,001
handyman would dream of attempting to do
repairs without a tool kit. Well, the

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00:25:38,001 --> 00:25:42,001
same should go for any computer user.
In the world of computers, the simplest of

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these tools are known as utilities.
There are literally dozens of these little

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hummers on the market, and they perform a
variety of simple-minded tasks that you

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shouldn't have to do for yourself.

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One of these tools is called the page.
Now, how many times have you seen this

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00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,001
happen? You use the DOS type command,
and the information you wanted to see go

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00:25:59,001 --> 00:26:01,000
skittering off the top of the screen.

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If you're fast and clever, you can stop it,
but why should you be fast and clever

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00:26:05,001 --> 00:26:09,001
when your PC can be fast and clever?
Now let's look at that file again with the

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00:26:09,001 --> 00:26:13,001
page. Notice how easy it is to see what
you're looking for. Of course, you could

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00:26:13,001 --> 00:26:17,001
do that with a word processor, but the
page can show you the contents of any file

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00:26:17,001 --> 00:26:22,000
that the type command can, and you can
access the page with a path command from

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00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:26,001
anywhere on a hard disk. At $22, it would
make a nice addition to anyone's system

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00:26:26,001 --> 00:26:30,000
from Orion Microsystems in Waterbury,
Connecticut. For the Computer

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00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,000
Chronicles, I'm Paul Schindler.

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The federal government has just concluded
a study on the use of computers by the

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00:26:36,001 --> 00:26:40,000
feds, and it shows that the government
is way behind private industry

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00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:41,001
in upgrading computer equipment.

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00:26:41,001 --> 00:26:46,000
The study found that the typical Fortune
500 company keeps a computer for less

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00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,001
than five years, while the typical
government office keeps a computer

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00:26:49,001 --> 00:26:51,001
for more than 10 years.

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00:26:52,001 --> 00:26:56,000
Engineers in Scotland report a major
breakthrough in the development of computer

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00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:00,001
chips, which use light waves rather
than electrons. The key is a new coated

389
00:27:00,001 --> 00:27:04,001
glass. The coating layer can either
reflect the light beam or let it pass

390
00:27:04,001 --> 00:27:07,000
through,
thus accomplishing the switching function.

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00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,001
The developers say laser chips
could be the key to fast,

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00:27:10,001 --> 00:27:12,001
compact parallel computing.

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00:27:13,001 --> 00:27:17,001
Finally, the father of the video game
and the talking bear, Nolan Bushnell, is

394
00:27:17,001 --> 00:27:22,001
back again, this time with Tech Force toys.
These are robot toys that are

395
00:27:22,001 --> 00:27:28,000
activated by inaudible signals delivered
in a television program. The robot toys

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00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:33,000
then become interactive participants with
the TV show. The Tech Force toys are

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00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:37,000
due out this fall and may well become the
high-tech toy hit of the next Christmas

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00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,001
shopping season. That's it for this week's
Chronicles. We'll see you next time.

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00:27:43,001 --> 00:27:47,001
The Computer Chronicles is made
possible by Leading Edge, makers of IBM

400
00:27:47,001 --> 00:27:51,001
compatible computer systems,
including Lotus Lookalike spreadsheet, word

401
00:27:51,001 --> 00:27:56,000
processing with spelling correction,
communication software, and Hayes compatible

402
00:27:56,000 --> 00:28:00,001
1200 baud modem. Leading Edge with
over 1,000 service centers nationwide.

403
00:28:02,001 --> 00:28:06,001
Additional funding is provided by McGraw Hill,
publishers of Byte, Byte's

404
00:28:06,001 --> 00:28:10,001
detailed technical articles on new hardware,
software, and languages cover

405
00:28:10,001 --> 00:28:12,001
developments in computer technology worldwide.

406
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:49,000
Thank you.